Monday, December 29, 2014

Guest Blogging For The New York Social Diary

Check out my latest column in The New York Social Diary, www.newyorksocialdiary.com and see accessories from the Animal Medical Center's Top Dog Gala and the New York Botanical Gardens Winter Wonderland Ball.



My vintage Nolan Miller flower pin that I wore to the 
New York Botanical Gardens Winter Wonderland Ball

I also wore a vintage dress that I pulled from my mother's closet and a pair of silver Manolos that had their own "earrings."

The dress

The sparkly silver Manolo Blahniks

The shoes had these earring like tassels on each side.


Thursday, December 25, 2014

Merry Christmas!

In the spirit of the day I searched the internet for photos of vintage Christmas tree pins, something I'm a little obsessed with at the moment.  They were very popular in the mid 20th century and are highly collectible.  A lot of the vintage ones are really inexpensive to buy and fun to wear this time of year! Here's a photo of one I saw on line and really like.

Vintage Christmas tree pin


I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas and find a special accessory under the tree today! xo

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Guest Blogging for The New York Social Diary

Check out my most recent column in The New York Social Diary and see sparkly accessories from several events.

http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/guest-diary/2014/accessories-diary-sparkle

Verdura Chariman Ward Landrigan with Brooke Shields


Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Direct from Paris....My New Barbara Rihl Bag

Barbara Rihl bag with cockatoo

A friend of mine recently returned from Paris and brought me the cutest Barbara Rihl bag above. This brand is new to me, but apparently not a new brand, with fans such as Kate Middleton, Emma Watson and Mick Jagger, and I'm now a little obsessed.  Many of the bags have a travel theme and are decorated accordingly.  The bag my friend chose for me has a cockatoo on it, because I have a real live cockatoo.  The bags are fun and whimsical and many, like mine, are convertible from a clutch to a handheld to a cross body.  I've never had a bag that comes with two distinct detachable straps before, so that's pretty cool.   I also love the packaging that has a lot of attention to detail.  Here's the web site if you want to take a closer look:  www.barbararihl.com .

My Barbara Rihl gift deconstructed:  Shopping bag, box, 
bag itself, protective plastic pouch and two straps.

Presentation is so important...here's the box the bag came in.

I love the zippered protective pouch, which could even 
be used as a make up pouch on it's own!

As soon as it stops raining here in New York, my new bag and I are going out on the town!

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Holiday Shopping Begins

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving today!  Tomorrow is "Black Friday" the first official day of holiday shopping leading up to Christmas.  I've collected a LOT of accessories over the years and I don't use them all so I've decided this is a good time to find them a new home, so to speak.  I do give some things away to charity and friends, but I've created an Ebay store to sell some of my accessories that I have barely used and, in some cases, never used.   If you want to check it out you can click on the link below.  I'll be adding more as time goes on.  My Ebay name is accessorygirlnyc  (what else would it be, lol?) Here is the link to my store:  

http://stores.ebay.com/accessorygirlnyc?_rdc=1

Whenever and however you start your holiday shopping (department stores, on line, Ebay, etc) happy hunting!

Friday, November 21, 2014

Guest Blogging For The New York Social Diary

Check out my most recent column in the NYSD and see photos from store events at Badgley Mischka, LJ Cross, Elaine Turner & Jackie Rogers.

http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/guest-diary/2014/accessories-diary-veteran-shoppers


Vintage Chanel medallion pendant necklace

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

It's In The Bag

Last night I attended a style ambassador party at the Elaine Turner store on Madison Avenue where we were each gifted a beautiful bag.  I chose this fabulous "Ruth" python bag.  It's going to come in handy for toting all my blogging supplies around town, like my camera, notepad, pens, walking shoes, etc...

Blogging can be time consuming, hard work and it's really nice to be appreciated with such an awesome gift!  Thanks Elaine Turner!

Elaine Turner python "Ruth" bag

Guest Blogging For The New York Social Diary

Click the link below to read my most recent column in The New York Social Diary and see photos from events for The Horticultural Society, Halloween at Doubles and The Animal Medical Center.

http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/guest-diary/2014/accessories-diary-flora-fauna

This Portable Sky Bag by Joyce Francis glowed from within

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Making The Most of Small Spaces: Boot Corner & Necklace Nook

Like many women with too much footwear (although can you ever really have enough?) I was using the space under my bed to store my boots.  They are too tall for my two shoe cabinets and there wasn't room anyway.  After removing an old rocking chair from my bedroom I had an oddly shaped corner space that I thought would be the perfect place for a boot cabinet, but I couldn't find anything that would fit properly and take full advantage of the unusual dimensions.  The space is under a window on one side and sandwiched between a floor to ceiling column that juts out for about two feet on one side and my heating/airconditioning unit on the other and nothing I looked at was working right.  My friend even drove me out to Ikea in NJ, but all of their corner shelving units were for kitchen spaces and not the right dimensions.  So I decided to create my own boot cabinet.  I found large sliding drawer bins at the Container Store, that were the same as the ones I got at Bed Bath & Beyond, that I store some of my shoes in.

Containers I'm using for my boots

Drawer slides out

Long enough for tall boots and see through so I know which pair is inside

I bought six of them and stacked them three and three.  That fit perfectly in the corner space I have and was enough to house all of my boots and booties.  It also gave me some space on top to store/display other things....

One is big enough for two pairs of booties

Also from the Container Store, I then bought shallow, stack-able  jewelry trays for my statement necklaces and two shirt boxes to stack them in so they wouldn't collect dust or NYC soot (they are right next to a window), or attract a curious cat....I love statement necklaces to pull an outfit together. Sometimes the only accessory you need is one large necklace to pack a punch.  If I'm in a rush and have time to grab just one item of jewelry it is always a powerful necklace.  I wanted easy access to my show stopper necklaces to save time and to be able to see them all in just a few seconds, because the items we wear the most are the ones we see first when when we open a closet or drawer or jewelry box.  

One jewelry tray fits two statement necklace
...notice the curious kitten in the corner

Shirt boxes to keep the necklace trays, and necklaces, safe

It's only been a couple of weeks since I organized this little boot and necklace corner, but I'm already wearing them more and using the necklaces I hadn't in a while because they were buried under other items in my jewelry armoire.  I'm also using the space to lay out all of my accessories when I'm getting dressed and trying to decide what to wear.  Much better than the floor or my bed that have easy access for the pets.

The finished nook.  
Nothing glamorous, but highly functional.

The final result isn't anything fancy, but it works for what I needed and it wasn't terribly expensive, like building a custom cabinet would have been.  And, an added bonus is that now there's lots of space under my bed again ;-)



Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Fashion Photo Shoot

I was recently approached about being in a fashion photo shoot by one of the world's top fashion photographers.  It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and, of course, I said 'yes.'  I'm not a model by any stretch of the imagination, but I do love fashion and accessories (hello!) and this was my chance to style myself and live a fantasy for a day.  It was such a memorable experience and the people involved were amazing and incredibly professional.  I can't spill too many details now, but wanted to share a few photos of the shoot.  More to come as the project continues and the photos get published down the road....And, I can't wait to wear this beautiful dress again!

Working with the best in the world of fashion

Never work with children or animals...lol...
the horse just wanted carrots

It was a gorgeous sunny October day

I loved my eye make up

All photos above taken by my wonderful make up artist Danette Shoshana

Saturday, October 18, 2014

More Nail Art

My new nail art manicure from W Nails

After my recent first personal experience with a nail art gel manicure went so well and the manicure lasted for so long, looking fresh and fabulous, I'm hooked!  I'm always in a rush (what modern woman isn't?) and sometimes even I don't have time to pile on a lot of accessories, so having a polished manicure that can double as an accessory is extremely helpful.  I love the clean look of neutral polish on my nails and I also love classic French manicures, so this time I traded in the line of pearls (see my post from September 27th http://www.accessorygeneration.com/2014/09/nail-art-as-accessory.html ) for a line of gold.  I love it and how great it looks with a bold gold ring.

A closer look at the new mani

Perfect with a gold statement ring (this one by Marco Bicego)

From a distance I think it looks like a regular French manicure, but up close it's a classic with a twist, which is just my style!

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Nail Art As Accessory

My beautiful French manicure with pearls

I love the look of beautifully manicured nails and I think it's very important that men and women keep their fingernails and toenails looking clean and well maintained, both for aesthetic and hygienic reasons.  I personally get a pedicure once a month and wish I had time for a weekly manicure, but I'm so busy I usually just file my nails myself and polish them if I have a big event.  I will sometimes even polish my nails while I'm getting my hair blown out to save time. So, when the nail salon where I have been getting my pedicures, W Nails, (which is the sister salon of where I get my hair done, Salon Wave) offered to give me a gel manicure with nail art I was thrilled! I had never had a gel manicure before and never had any nail art before and I was excited to try something new.

Nail art has become extremely popular the last few years and with all the painted designs, glitter, pearls, and jewels nails have become accessories just like rings or bracelets.  Some of the nail art I've seen is really amazing and intricate, and if I were in my teens or 20's I would probably have a different design on my nails every week, but because I go out to formal events and go to meetings and meet with clients I wanted something fun, yet classic that would be work appropriate.  I've always loved the look of French manicures so I decided a customized twist on that classic style would be amazing.  And, since I love Chanel, I thought giving my nails a Chanel look with pearls would be perfect.

W Nails has a lot of samples to look at and their designs are so pretty.  They also have a lot of embellishments and jewels and sparkles, all of which I loved, because I love anything that sparkles and glitters.  After looking at every sample at the salon and speaking with Maki, one of the owners, and Harumi, my nail artist, we decided that a line of pearls right below the white tips would look good.  I chose small white pearls.

The pearls used on my manicure

Harumi then prepared my nails for the gel manicure.  If you've never had a gel manicure, it's a little different than a regular manicure because the nails have to be prepared for the special gel polish that is longer lasting than regular polish.  

Harumi hard at work

After preparing my nails Harumi gave me a classic French manicure...

Classic French before adding the pearls

Then the fun part of adding the pearls.  I don't know how she got them to line up so perfectly!

The pearls are on!

Perfection!

I absolutely love the way my manicure turned out.  I think it looks very classy and it's fun, but also appropriate for my lifestyle.  So far it's holding up well and hasn't chipped and no pearls have fallen off.  That's a miracle because I'm always cleaning up after pets and have my hands and nails touching harsh chemicals all the time.  My regular manicures usually start chipping after a day or two, but I'm told the gel manicures should last a few weeks.   If that happens, I think I could get used to these gel manicures!  I am definitely going to do this again and I may try some jewels next time.

Here are a few of the many creative sample styles W Nails has on display:

Colorful butterflies

I love the animal print

I also love this big flower.

A selection of my favorites.  I think the pumpkin is adorable 
for Halloween and I'm tempted to try the jewels, 
because it's nail jewelry!

Adorable animals

W Nails is located at 1059 2nd Avenue between 55th & 56th Streets in Manhattan.  Their phone number is 212-355-3030.  In addition to gel manicures they also do regular manicures and pedicures and spa mani/pedis.  I highly recommend W Nails because, as is the Japanese tradition, the salon is very clean and there is a lot of attention to detail.  Each client gets a brand new disposable plastic insert that lines the foot tubs at the pedicure stations and if you're a germaphobe, like I am, you will totally appreciate that.  






Saturday, September 13, 2014

Joan Rivers Jewelry Continued

I thought fans of Joan Rivers might like to see more photos of some of the jewelry from her Classics Collection.  Many are vintage from her early years selling on QVC.  I read that with all of the products she sold on QVC during her 24 years appearing there, sales totaled 1 billion dollars!  She was certainly a great business woman and she knew what her customers wanted.  Enjoy!

Lorgnette necklace
 
Two enamel pins
 
 
Stackable rings and a sparkly ring with chain link band
 
Multi colored pastel pearl necklace
 
 

A selection of watches.  The large one is a favorite of mine.
 
 
Pearl necklace with interchangeable heart clasp
 
Interchangeable heart earrings
 
Pearl necklace with star clasp
 
Star pin and earrings
 
Blue enamel heart earrings
 
Pink polka dot flower pin.  One of my favorites.
 
Bangle bracelets in red, blue & green enamel
 
Puffed heart necklace and bracelet
 
Bracelet & necklace in shades of black, gray, gold and white
 
Large pearl drop earrings with bows
 
 
Honey bee pin. 
   Joan Rivers made these bee pins in many colors. 
The name Melissa means honey bee in Greek & Hebrew. 
Melissa is the name of Joan's daughter.